The rest of Day Four :)
DISTRICT FOUR FEMALE: SAWYER AURORA
Damien and I jog down the wider hallway, holding our weapons in front of us in case, somehow, our opponents are prepared for the attack. My heartbeat grows faster and faster thanks to the adrenaline beginning to course through my veins. My palms are sweaty on the metal of my spear.
"Right ahead!" Damien pants as he trails behind me. I scowl- he already sounds out of breath. As I move forward, however, I see that he was right. There's a simple doorframe there, with peeling paint and crooked beams.
"On the right!" I hiss back to the boy from Eleven, and we press ourselves against the black tunnel wall. They could have seen us! We creep forward now, hardly daring to breath as we approach our prey. So close to the fight!
We're just a few feet from the entrance when Andras's voice rings out. "What was that?" I freeze, cursing under my breath. He couldn't have heard us! No! A chair scrapes back on the other side of the door and I can see Andras silhouetted in the doorframe. Almost immediately my spear is hoisted but he's running in the other direction. He heard something else, something far away from us. Perhaps Ainsley and Desire?
They'll be getting their weapons if they saw the District One pair. I clench my jaw- that's exactly what I don't want! With a swift jerk of my head I signal to Damien and we charge through the doorframe, hollering a battle cry.
For a split second I'm struck by the new surroundings- through yet another door and a set of broken glass windows, a wall of furniture taller than any of us by over two feet rises across the street.
Slightly more worrying than that, Andras and the others are already armed and Ainsley and Desire are nowhere in sight. Damien and I are on our own against three strong competitors. "Go for whoever attacks you first," I growl to my ally, and charge forward.
Phi is the first to turn around and make a move towards us, so I leap at him and slash down with the tip of my spear. He snarls, jabbing at me with a long knife. Smirking at his feeble weapon, I press forward, forcing him to step back on his bowed legs. Andras and Kalen join the fray, Kalen skirting Phi and me and challenging Damien, and Andras joining Phi against me.
My nose wrinkles slightly in disdain before I redouble my efforts, but Phi isn't taking any chances of betrayal. He knocks into Andras, making him stumble to the side and out of the fight. I take the opportunity and stab at my rival, but Phi's already attacking me again and the tip of my spear swings wide. I swear loudly and shove Phi back with the shaft of the spear.
"Damien, come on!" I back up until the boy from Eleven is in my line of vision, then join him. Andras and Phi follow me, jostling each other to get a kill first. "Where are Ainsley and Desire? They were supposed to turn around as soon as they heard a fight, and since these guys heard something earlier, it had to be them!"
"Sawyer? Damien?" A faint call drifts over the wall of furniture. Ainsley. Their tunnel emerges on the other side of this barrier.
"HERE!" I scream, feinting wildly and finally landing a deep cut on Phi's collarbone. He grunts and clasps the wound with his free hand. Our backup will be coming soon, we will be able to take this alliance out.
Phi and Andras share a look before circling around Damien and me, grouping around the boy from Eleven. Kalen, left behind, stares at me with wide eyes, barely able to hold up his singlestick against my spear.
"Sawyer, a little help?" Damien calls out, panicked at suddenly fighting two major opponents. I roll my eyes and turn around, reluctantly loyal to my ally. I deflect a blow from Phi before Andras catches me in the small of my back with his staff, sending me sprawling at the base of the barricade. I groan at the new pain in my torso.
I start to clamber back to my feet, but I'm resting heavily on one knee when Phi gets a strong blow on Damien's left ankle. He collapses to the ground on his hands and knees, then sitting back on his knees only, he gropes for his sword again.
I see Andras pull back his staff and know what's going to happen a split second before Damien does. He brings down the blunt, hardened edge onto the boy from Eleven's skull, crushing it with the force. Bits of gray matter spurt in all directions, speckled with flecks of bone. The cannons fires right away. Damien's body crumples in a bloody heap to the ground.
Andras is just turning to me when Ainsley and Desire burst through the door of the little building, weapons raised. I use my spear to help myself up and motion at Damien's corpse angrily. Ainsley jumps at Andras with a fervor he's never shown before, and I strike Phi so hard that he flies backwards into a broken table. "Go! Go!" I shout at District One. Desire helps Ainsley push Andras back and they start to run, but the boys block the exit.
Thinking as fast as I can through a haze of anger and bloodlust, I grab Kalen Ram by his arena uniform and drag him partway up the barricade. "This way, One!" I holler at my remaining allies. They scramble after me, and we're over the wall of furniture in less than two minutes.
Kalen squirms and swears and tries to land a blow on me, but I know well enough hold to hold someone down. I force his arm up behind his back and he mewls in pain. He's our hostage now.
Well, maybe not hostage. I have no intention of letting him go free.
DISTRICT TWO MALE: ANDRAS FEY
"Come on, Phi!" I hiss between clenched teeth as I hold off Ainsley. The boy from Three is having hard time with Sawyer, not that I'm surprised about it. She finally forces him down and the sight of him failing makes my own fighting falter, just enough so that Ainsley gets out of my range. "Three, here!" He drags himself off the ground and joins me in a rush, blocking the way out. I smirk. We've got them now.
Then Sawyer darts forward and grabs Kalen, dragging him to the barricade. The boy's face is an almost funny mixture of shock and fear. With a call from Sawyer, Ainsley and Desire swarm up the barricade and over the top, taking Kalen with them.
Phi and I are left alone on the other side.
I push my sweaty fair hair out of my face with a shaking hand. That was the most startled I've ever been in my life- you can never get used to being ambushed in a fight to the death. Wiping away a smear of blood from my cheek, I look up at the barricade. The fight is over for Phi and me, but they've got Kalen now. Not that I care about the boy from Six, but I want to know what Sawyer and the pair from One are doing. Surely they didn't expect us to follow after the useless boy.
Phi storms up the barricade, climbing as quickly as he can. "What are you doing?" I shout at him, filling my voice with disdain.
"He's over there?" Phi gives me a look, like he thinks I've lost my wits.
I raise my eyebrows, letting a smirk spread over my face. "Do you care?"
"Not really." He shrugs.
"Then leave him, it's not like he matters to you or me." Phi nods shortly, but keeps climbing. "What now?"
"Just watching." I nod and start climbing the furniture myself. I want to see this for myself as well.
Sawyer's voice carries over the barricade, angry and rough. "Nice try, boy, but you're not going anywhere!" I peer over the top of the wall just as Sawyer slaps Kalen hard across the face, snapping his head to the side. An angry red handprint appears within seconds on his face. I tense in automatic anger- I've felt the same blow multiple times. "Ainsley, hold him still." The dark-skinned man from One steps forward and pins Kalen's hands behind his back.
"Let me go," Kalen spits at them, and even from here I can see his eyes blazing with anger.
"You'd have to kill us to get away!" Sawyer taunts him, her long dark hair swinging in front of her face and a few pieces even getting caught in her mouth.
Kalen strains to escape Ainsley's grip, and even gets one arm free before the older boy can plant his feet. He lashes out at Sawyer and scores two shallow lines through the tan skin of her face. She swings out with her spear, catching him in the stomach with the blunt edge. Kalen gasps and sags in Ainsley's grip; the Careers get him under full restraint again.
As Sawyer walks over to Desire for a moment and asks her something, the blonde girl shaking her head frantically in response, Kalen notices Phi and me watching the full exchange. I'm expecting a pitiful plea for help, but he catches Phi's eye instead. A new glint appears in his eyes.
"Phi! Phi!" the Careers react in surprise to his calls, expecting an attack. When they don't see us advancing, they relax. "Phi, Clementine lied to you! Think about it! Just think! Why didn't she take care of the Peacekeeper herself? She wouldn't recruit you of all people, she used you! Phi! Just think about it!"
Phi almost loses his place on the barricade, he's so surprised. The Careers snicker to themselves, and I curse myself mentally. It makes sense! How did I not figure that out first?
Sawyer approaches Kalen again, grinning an evil, almost reptilian smile. "Any last words after that moving speech, boy?"
"Long live the ones who actually try their hardest," he snarls. Sawyer actually giggles, and then raises her spear. It pierces his chest and comes out the other side covered in gore. He sways and sags at the knees, but the metal in his chest holds him up. That is, until the girl from Four tears it out again. A spurt of blood erupts from Kalen's heart and he coughs up a spray of crimson before falling to the ground. The cannon fires, and I smile in satisfaction.
Sawyer looks up at me and Phi, having seen us when Kalen cried out to Phi. "Get the message, boys?" she says sweetly, "See you around!"
I slip back down the wall of furniture, picking up my staff and rolling it absentmindedly from hand to hand. This will have to be the end of the alliance, then. Phi and I won't do anything together unless it's killing each other.
I scoop up supplies and set them in the red backpack, trying to take as much as I can before Phi recovers.
I hear the scuffing of shoes on the barricade and whirl around to see Phi half-climbing, half-sliding down the barricade.
"Have a nice epiphany?" I prod at him. He shoots me a glare, but it's halfhearted.
"We can't keep together anymore," he mumbles.
"Obviously." I continue stuffing supplies into the pack.
"You're taking everything!"
"We're not allies anymore. Were you expecting kindness?" A glint of focused anger comes into Phi's eyes and he charges me. I hold up my staff, but he's not holding his knife; it's a full on tackle. I'm shoved to the cobblestones on my back, the wind knocked out of me. "Dirty trick, Three."
"See you around, Pretty Boy. But the next time we meet, we'll see if your pretty face bleeds red like the rest of us."
DISTRICT TEN FEMALE: INEZ CARMEN
It's been a restless day. Two cannons already and then the force field at the entrance to my island doesn't show a sign of weakness anywhere. It just won't let me up, and I'm getting more and more flustered as the day wears on. I just want to get out. I just want to escape before the savages find me or Knox.
I hopelessly grab another handful of sand and toss it towards the entrance to the arena, watching as it hits the field and trickles down to the small pile already forming at the ground. I groan, frustrated, and sit down huffily in the sand. All I want is a way out!
The ocean laps a few feet from my shoes. Its rhythmic splashing is aggravating, it's too calm! Especially with the chant still throbbing underfoot and the panicked pace my heart has adopted. I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet anxiously, trying to decide what to do.
The saltwater spray mists at my ankles, grabbing my attention. It wasn't touching my feet at all a minute ago? I haven't moved at all, which must mean the tide is coming in. And fast. Every wave rolls a few inches higher on the beach, and white crests top the cerulean water in the distance. I watch, mystified, for a minute, but then the first wave touches my toes and I leap back, trance broken.
A huge breaker hits the shore and rolls all the way up to the force field. My feet are caught and my shoes get soaked right away. I squeak a little and retreat to the treeline. They aren't calming down- every wave is rising past the entrance. This is it. They're going to push me into the trees, into a confrontation. I want to cry. This isn't what I wanted, this isn't how I am going to end!
I'm looking for Knox through the greenery. If I can stay away from him, I can prolong the inevitable. That's all I'm trying to do at this point, since it is futile attempting to avoid it entirely.
Maybe I can just not look? Not do anything, and let the fight come to me instead. It would give me time to calm down and prepare. I stop and lean against a tree, forcing myself to take deep breaths. This won't work at all. Every time I stop moving, the chant increases in volume; only when I'm walking does it become bearable. Of course, nothing's going to work out in my favor here.
"Inez?"
Crap.
I turn around to see Knox standing a few trees away from me, his coppery skin shiny with sweat and his glasses sliding off the bridge of his nose. "Hi,Knox. Bad timing."
"Inez, I'm scared," he whispers, "I don't want to fight you. I don't want to die."
My heart melts. "I know, Knox, I know exactly how you feel." He's just a little kid, how could I kill him? How could I ever even consider that? He bounds to my side and slips his hand into mine. I feel like a big sister again.
"Even if they're gonna make us fight, we can be friends first, right?"
"Knox, it's only gonna hurt worse when one of us dies."
"I'd rather care about someone and lose them than not care at all." He looks up at me, his big green eyes filled with the beginnings of tears. That's right, his ally died. And Aedan died yesterday, that hurt me. He was annoying, but he was good.
Suddenly I'm aware that the chant of 'Kill the Beast' no longer resides in the ground beneath our feet. It fills the air, hums from the trees, and it surrounds us so completely I'm starting to think it comes from inside my heart.
The first savage boy steps from behind one of the trees. "Kill the Beast!" he screams in a hoarse cheer. His face is covered with red and black war paint.
Another boy reveals himself. "Kill the Beast!" he declares in a low cry.
A gleeful shout. An eager hiss. The sullen command. "Kill the Beast!" the savages chant together, encircling Knox and me in their ranks. One of them steps forward, pointing at us. "The human will kill the Beast! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
I glance fearfully at the young boy I'm standing beside. He's looking around, gaping in fear. Returning my gaze to the savages, I raise my chin proudly. "We will not fight, we have no weapons!" To my consternation, several of the boys produce sharpened sticks and offer them to us.
"Roger sharpened a stick at both ends," one of them informs us knowingly. Then they push the makeshift spears into our hands and step back into their circle.
The chant grows frenzied. I step away from Knox, trying to goad myself into killing this little kid. I can't do it. I can't. Isadora told me to lighten up and survive, but this is something I could never justify, not for a million years.
Knox narrows his eyes in determination and takes the first swing. He hits me in the side, but it doesn't hurt. He's not strong enough for it to hurt. The only thing that's injured is my trust.
The chant increases, drilling through my mind and spreading out to the very tips of my fingers. Kill the Beast, Kill the Beast, Kill the Beast! I can't deal with this. I can't deal with it. I just want to survive.
"I'm sorry, Knox." I just want to go home. I just want to escape. I jab forward with the sharp end of the spear, catching the boy from Nine in the stomach. The sharp point lodges deep in his belly and I immediately drop it and turn around, unable to look at my actions. Knox cries out, the cry of a child.
"I…Inez…" he sobs, "Inez, it hurts."
I cannot stand by as he calls my name. Even if it was my hand that did this to him, I won't let him just stand there abandoned. I turn around, seeing that the spear has fallen from his body and his small hands are clasped over the wound in a feeble attempt to stop the blood. He's still on his feet, but swaying dangerously. As he falls, I reach out and catch him, pillowing his head in my lap. "Knox, I'm so sorry!" I'm crying, he's crying, the savages watch breathlessly. "Knox, please no, I just wanted to survive. The chant… everything… Knox!"
His cannon fires and the savages cheer.
DISTRICT EIGHT MALE: SHILOH TYNE
My eyes and throat burn from all the tears I've shed over the past day. They never really stopped, one thought of Aedan brought the crying back full force. I've never cried this hard before, not even when the bullies back in Eight drove me to self-harm. I've never lost someone before.
Every time I close my eyes, I see that thing leap at Aedan. Every time things go quiet, I hear the echo of tearing flesh and wet chewing. Every moment the loneliness settles deeper into my soul. After being alone for so many years, one week of friendship changed me so much that a return to my previous solitude is destroying me.
Who could imagine that losing someone you loved could hurt this much? You can't fathom it until it happens.
I've barely managed to move from the cave area to a different red curtain, but I haven't passed the inner door. I don't have the strength to deal with another environment alone right now. It would shred my remaining sanity.
I'm sitting on the ground with my back against the wall and my knees pulled up to my chest almost in the fetal position. I don't think I could have strength for anything right now. I can hardly walk, let alone fight. Somehow, I'll need to regain my footing and pull myself together, but I can't see that happening right now or anytime soon for that matter. I'm too overwhelmed.
I let my head droop onto my knees, but I'm barely still again before a cannon fires. I jump at the noise, lifting my head so quickly it bangs against the wall behind me. My heart beats wildly.
Who could it have been? The cynical part of me hopes it was one of the trained tributes, or Phi. The rest of me regrets the thought immediately. It's not fair to want someone to die, not after yesterday when I found out just how much it affects the survivors.
The last cannon I heard was Aedan's. The thought makes my eyes sting with tears yet again.
Just a few minutes later, another cannon booms through the arena. There was a pretty big fight, then, if two tributes died in such quick succession. I force myself to stand, dry my eyes, and move to the red curtain. If the Careers are fighting, that would make sense.
Peeking past the curtain, I don't see any tributes at all. No Careers, no loners, no other alliances. No corpses, even. What I do see is the Cornucopia, surrounded by supplies.
It would be a good idea to take some. I could survive for much longer with a good supply of food, water, and medicines. I've only got enough for another day. So I dry my eyes, straighten my shoulders, and step cautiously into the main area. I find myself stupidly reaching out to the supplies already like some desperate dying man.
Well, if I don't get this food, I might end up that way. There are worse ways to go. Like being eaten alive.
There's a rush of footsteps across the arena and I yelp, skittering back to my hiding spot in terror as a figure emerges from the red curtain opposite me. Certainly they caught sight of me? I was startled in plain sight. But no one comes looking for me. I sit in fear for several minutes, heart thumping, before I calm down again and the melancholy settles in again. My short burst of determination is long gone.
How do you deal with losing the one person you've ever felt really comfortable with? Maybe this is sort of like what Aedan felt when we lost Noalee, the same feeling that made him angrier than before. But it's just driving me into a deep pit of sorrow.
If I had ever been this sad at home in Eight, I would have relied on my father's pocketknife to feel better.
There's a knife in my pack, one of the weapons Noalee got from the bloodbath. If I wanted to…
No. Never again. How would Aedan react to that? It's not healthy in the first place, but to remember my dearest person in my life by scarring myself would be too wrong to even consider. I don't ever want to touch a knife again.
I crawl to the curtain and look through again, cringing back when I see three figures. The Careers, since it's District One and the girl from Four. I watch them argue for a few minutes before the pair from One storm off to one of the curtains. The girl from Two and the boy from Four have died, but where's Damien? Was he one of the earlier cannons? It doesn't affect me now.
Or does it? Two of twelve dead today. That means there are ten of us left. I've made top ten. I'm alone, but I've survived.
At the cost of two allies. I can call this survival but it's more miserable than death.
I retreat to my tunnel, sitting there in the dark for who knows how long, when yet another cannon fires. Three in one day? That's practically a second bloodbath. There are only nine of us left and it's almost the end of Day Four.
It hurts me somewhere deep inside that Noalee and Aedan aren't with me now when we all could have been alive. If only Aedan and I had chosen the right way first, we wouldn't have run into that mutt. He could still be here with me. We could be happy, and together, and we would have been safe because we were so close.
The anthem blasts out into the arena. I'm suddenly curious, wanting to know who died. I don't want to risk running into the Careers by going into the main section, so I slowly move into the arena area. The sky is bright with the Capitol seal, and the boy from Six shimmers into the sky, followed by little Knox Blake and then Damien. After the faces have passed, I make my way to a long table and sink down onto the bench. I don't care where I am or who else could find me.
I would cry for the dead, but my tears have finally run out.
Kalen Ram, District Six
Knox Blake, District Nine
Damien Summers, District Eleven
Thomas J. Flynn, Kalen's... different... moral thinking was a lot of fun to explore and he was interesting to write, but without a basis for his values in the arena his plotlines faded. It was his time. Thank you for your character.
Foxface5, you have made some of the best-loved tributes in my stories, and it has been a joy writing them. Knox especially, because he was one of those rare younger tributes who was also mature. I adored Knox, and it's difficult for me to send him off.
Sparrow, Damien's focus on stories and being the hero of his own was a character pattern I had never really seen before and it was fantastic to write. He wasn't as popular, but he was different. Thank you for letting me write him :)
THREE deaths? This is wild! And we are down to nine tributes- Ainsley, Desire, Andras, Phi, Sawyer, Alyx, Shiloh, Rhain, and Inez. Next chapter will be top eight, and after that I'll be doing interviews again! A question:
Who do you THINK will die and who do you WANT to die in order to make top eight?
And, of course, tell me what you thought!